General Health Care
Wellness examinations:
The cornerstone of all healthcare is a detailed history and physical examination. We take the time to listen carefully to your pet’s medical and dietary history, and then perform a comprehensive physical examination. This can include listening to the chest and heart with a stethescope, checking the ears and ears with specialised scopes, and sometimes examination for lameness, pain, or abnormal nerve function, depending on the presenting problem.
Sometimes a physical examination can provide clues as to what additional testing could be indicated.
Sometimes families just want to know there is nothing to worry about, so a very detailed physical examination can provide peace of mind!
Puppy and kitten care:
New puppies and kittens are truly one of the great joys of life! That’s why it’s so important that we make sure they are fully healthy. At Victoria we are experienced with all aspects of healthcare for young animals, including some potentially serious conditions present in Hong Kong.
We can perform detailed physical examination, and if appropriate, conduct specialised testing to make sure nothing important or serious is missed.
If there are no major health issues present, we can also give guidance on the best food, exercise, and training, as well as supply everything needed for preventative health.
Desexing:
Most families in Hong Kong choose to have their pets desexed, for convenience and behavioural reasons.
Our vets are extremely experienced in performing desexing operations in male and female cats and dogs.
We use the newest and safest drugs, anesthetics and monitoring equipment, to make sure this is a truly routine procedure with extremely rapid and pain-free recovery.
Most pets are close to normal the day after desexing surgery, and have made a complete recovery after then days.
However, it’s completely normal for families to feel a little bit anxious about any surgery on their pet.
Don’t hesitate to ask us about our safety, monitoring, and pain-relief, so that we can explain our process and give you peace of mind!
In addition, there’s a lot more discussion recently about what’s the best time or age to desex your pet. Our vets continue to closely monitor the veterinary literature to give you evidence-based advice on what’s best for your pet and your family.
No advice is ever one-size-fits-all, so ask us, and we can provide individualised advice for your family.
Senior health checks:
At Victoria, we firmly believe that age is not a disease!
Senior pets are some of the most loved and cherished members of our family.
They are also somewhat more likely to suffer from age-related diseases, including heart disease, kidney disease, and cancers.
The great news is that huge advances continue to be made in treatment and management of many of these age-related diseases.
A very important principle is early detection. It’s much easier to manage most conditions in the early stages, before they get out of control.
We recommend regular (at least annual) health checks for all dogs and cats, and these become even more important as they become senior.
We provide packages including routine screening blood tests and imaging to make sure we pick up age-related diseases at the earliest possible stage.
Our senior pets provide so much joy to us over many years…let’s work together to give them the most dignified, comfortable and graceful aging that they deserve!
Preventative medicine:
Prevention is always better than cure, and we have a full range of all preventative medicines required to keep your family safe in Hong Kong.
We still see very high levels of entirely preventable disease in Hong Kong, including heart worm disease, tick fever, parvovirus, and distemper.
We strongly recommend that all dogs and cats in Hong Kong are fully vaccinated, and have up to date worming, heart worm, and tick prevention.
There’s a very wide range of products available, and it can be confusing without the correct guidance.
We’ll find the products and schedules which are best for you and your family!
Nutrition:
Diet is a critically-important, but sometimes overlooked, aspect of pet care.
When we diagnose medical conditions, we don’t always reach for drugs immediately. If there’s a dietary option…often this is the best way first.
Diet plays a critical role in many disease conditions we see commonly, especially diseases of the gut. Did you know that up to 50% of chronic gut conditions in dogs and cats (such as vomiting and diarrhea) can be treated with diet alone…without medications?
Even if we do need medications, we will often use diet as an adjunct therapy to reduce the doses of drugs required, or when possible, to wean off medication altogether.
As well as gut diseases, diet plays a critical role in many other diseases such as kidney disease, cardiac disease, cancer, and diabetes.
Nutrition is an extremely complex area of medicine, with constantly emerging new research and information. Many of our vets at Victoria have taken post-graduate qualification and training in medicine to understand the role of diet in medical conditions.
Obesity is another very common problem in dogs and cats in Hong Kong. Many of the pets we see get plenty of love…and maybe slightly too many calories!
At Victoria, we understand how difficult it can be sometimes to get the diet exactly right. We are experienced in managing weight control, both with education, careful monitoring, detailed, structured nutrition plans, and prescription weight loss diets.